Why are my photos dark in a 360Booth®?

So y’all want a 360Booth®. I showed you how bright and clear the photos can be, showing the true color of the car. When we trained you and your staff, our installer trained you and displayed very brilliant, clear, bright photos, and now your photographer is taking dark ones.

Just contact us. It’s a five-minute conversation to get them back on track. In this video, I’m going to try to explain, with a camera, why the photos are dark and how to correct them.

So, here’s my camera. It’s outdated. You can’t buy it any more, but the one dial I want to show you is this dial right there. Right here. You’re able to turn it and make it bright or dark.

Let me show you this up close. Here’s the key. Whenever the camera sees the studio, it gets really dark. By turning the dial at the top, I can make my photos bright or dark. When you go to auto mode, it’s too dark and dingy. You have to simply just increase the volume, take your picture, and look at that picture. It’s that simple.

 

 

Does 360Booth® use softbox lighting?

Let’s talk about professional photography. There are tons of guys out there claiming to be professional photographers. That’s great news. All of them want to turn our cloth top into a softbox. They’re over-engineering it.

I’m not a fan of the softbox. One, you don’t have a trained photographer to shoot in that environment. Two, it’s a very filtered light and makes your cars look fake. That’s the worst thing you can do in an environment–to let your customers think they’re using a file photo. Our solution has very bright, very cool LED lights–cool in temperature. We have a domed, engineered diffuser over the top of them that filter out the light so that it doesn’t create shadows. It doesn’t create a softbox environment.

Can you turn this into a softbox? Hey, it’s your studio. Do as you may. Would I recommend it? No.
 

 

Can I use strobe lights in a 360Booth®?

Sure you can! I don’t recommend it. The number one reasons are heat and fire. You’re going to be having somebody that doesn’t know how to shoot in a strobe light environment, and they’re going to shoot 40 photos–that’s 40 flashes–in five to six minutes. Strobe lights–that’s a lot of abuse, and when they go, they actually go because of heat, and they fuse to the assembly so now you have the risk of fire. The strobe has failed. Your studio is shut down while you have to order a new strobe light.

So, to answer your question, you can add a strobe absolutely to our studio. We have a dealer group, Morrie’s Automotive Group, in Minnesota, that does a great job with strobes, but they have a professional photographer training their staff. They have five or six of our studios, and every one of them has strobes. They have a strobe above the cloth. They have strobes mounted into the overhang.

I don’t recommend it. It’s too difficult. The light is too soft. Go to Carvana and look at their first photo. It looks fake. It’s because it’s a soft light environment, exactly what strobes will do.

To answer your question, I don’t recommend strobes, but hey, this is your studio. Do anything you want.
 

Where are the motors on your studio?

Great news to you, there are no motors. We wanted a product and a studio that stood the test of time. Motors fail. Electronics fail, let’s be honest. In your back area where the booth is, it’s abused by personnel. It’s abused by moisture and rust. You don’t want motors. Not only that, but turntables also take almost two minutes to turn around. I could have shot and been sitting in the car in about 40 seconds after I was done shooting cars on the exterior. You don’t want motors.

So, to answer your question, where are the motors on 360Booth®? There are none. It’s just a simple wheel.

Let me show you what they look like.

Here’s an extreme closeup of our wheel. We have wheel boxes. Now, just so you know, there are wheel boxes on your Studio that don’t contain wheels. The reason for that is the more wheels, the more resistance, the more friction, the harder it is to push. So, there are no motors on 360Booth®.
 

 

Can I unpack my studio from truck piece by piece if I don't have fork lift?

I wouldn’t advise unpacking your studio from the truck because you don’t have a forklift. The main reason is the plastic. It’s very dense. It’s very durable, but, because of length and the width of it, it’s hard to manhandle, and you’re going to scratch it. I would seriously advise getting a forklift. If you don’t have one, borrow one. If you can’t borrow one, rent one. The ease of getting it off the back of the semi-truck with a forklift is day and night compared to taking all the steel off the pallet and then twenty-something panels of plastic, including supplies.

So, to answer your question, I wouldn’t advise unpacking your pallet piece by piece at all! If you damage a plastic panel, it’s going on your booth, damaged.